To be honest I don’t pay much attention to things like augmented reality. For now, its applications seem to be limited to gimmicks that few brands can afford. I have the same basic attitude to 3D projection mapping. But this recent example is too cool to ignore. Great voiceover, great script and great depth treatments. Does anyone know if this played more than once? Was it early evening before little kids went to bed? How much re-jigging is required to make a projection work on different buildings?
What comes after a Happiness Machine? If you’re Coca-Cola the answer is a Happiness Truck – driving around Rio. While there is part of me that feels the company is simply buying friends with freebies, I do love the feel good vibe that gets people smiling like they do.
Not sure if this strictly counts as ‘digital’ but I love the fact someone has resurrected the good old photo booth for the new Saw movie. Fans are lured by the offer of a free Halloween photo, only to be surprised by Jigsaw on the third flash. From what I understand the booth was restricted to Hoyts cinemas, which is a shame because if they’d used photo booths all over town (sans branding on the outside), the scare factor have been through the roof!
Pen company Pilot has launched a web application that lets you create your own handwritten font. How cool is that! I think it’s spot on for the brand – electronic communication certainly lacks the personal connection we feel when we receive a handwritten letter. I haven’t tried the application yet because I don’t own a printer but judging by the video the default email template includes a big ugly pen. How subtle. Many brands go too far in wanting credit for their good deeds. Pilot just adds to the list.
DDB Canada has come up with the idea of live Twitter murals to catch the attention of busy Americans in New York, Chicago and LA. Maybe Tourism New Zealand would have been better off doing this kind of stuff rather than blowing $300,000 a day on a giant rugby ball.
The producers of a bitter tonic water in Argentina recently gave jilted lovers the chance to immortalise their revenge by posting their feelings on a website. From these the best 72 messages were published in an illustrated book released on…you guessed it…Valentine’s Day. I rather admire the originality of this project, which demonstrates a certain entrepreneurial flair (over 2,000 copies were sold in three weeks), as well as the crossover between real and digital worlds.
Take a look at the future of publishing (possibly). Adobe talks as if the new iPad is the best thing since sliced bread but can it really add that much more to users’ online experience? Rather than merely sexing up the way titles are packaged, I think publishers need to focus on more new ways to truly engage users, be it journalists replying to comments on every story, asking users what they want, giving them buying power, creating targeted events or finding a better solution to banner advertising.
Oh who to believe! AKQA is shouting about results for its VW iPhone application – 4 million downloads plus an ’80% increase in leads, test drive and quote requests without a print ad, banner or broadcast spot in sight’. But compared to what exactly? One Facebook fan, Paul Bartlett, makes some interesting points in a post on the agency’s wall. Personally, I hope the stats are as flattering as they sound – I’m trying to get my own app across the line at the moment.
The Kookmeyer Institute learned a lot in 2009, perhaps most of all from two websites for adidas.tv and 221B. The former made me realise that destination sites really do need to be supported by an integrated marketing strategy – be it a seeding campaign, above-the-line advertising, POS, swing tags or whatever – to drive traffic. Because if nobody sees it what’s the point? The latter made me reassess my approach to content. AKQA will probably win some craft award for its online game to promote the new Sherlock Holmes movie. But it’s so comprehensive that in appealing to the most diehard fans it might have lost the opportunity to hook borderline punters. Perhaps a better approach would have been to simplify the game and keep more users involved for longer. Interesting. I wonder if the guys at ViralBlog will get their hands on the stats and share some kind of report with us in the new year.
